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Re: Watch out, Lance Stephenson’s putting it all together (NYPost)

I think if the Lakers were smart they'd spend that kind of money on him instead of chasing someone like Melo-- use the extra $$ on adding more quality pieces.

Yeah, a 23 year old Stephenson at his highest realistic price tag versus a soon to be 30 year old Melo at his price tag? It's no contest. Give me Lance any day of the week.

If Melo didn't lead teams on deep playoff runs during his 20's, then I doubt it starts now. The guy is going to be on the wrong end of 30 during the entire duration of this looming monstrous contract. Overspending for Lance, which would still be much much much cheaper than Melo, would by far be the better move for the Lakers, IMO. Let's just hope we can match whatever the highest offer is. Entering next season without Born Ready would be so depressing.

Re: Watch out, Lance Stephenson’s putting it all together (NYPost)

Yeah, a 23 year old Stephenson at his highest realistic price tag versus a soon to be 30 year old Melo at his price tag? It's no contest. Give me Lance any day of the week.

If Melo didn't lead teams on deep playoff runs during his 20's, then I doubt it starts now. The guy is going to be on the wrong end of 30 during the entire duration of this looming monstrous contract. Overspending for Lance, which would still be much much much cheaper than Melo, would by far be the better move for the Lakers, IMO.

The thing is that Melo plays a position Kobe doesn't making it easier to think about having both players together.

Re: Watch out, Lance Stephenson’s putting it all together (NYPost)

This is the one downside to the excellent job that Bird has done as a GM. We've added so many good players in recent years that it's costing an absolute fortunate to keep them. But it's not my money......

Re: Watch out, Lance Stephenson’s putting it all together (NYPost)

Hypothetically yes. But some players aren't meant to be number one options. Lance isn't a good enough scorer (from what we've seen of him thus far) to be able to carry a team offensively night in and night out. Those guys have shown the ability to do those things, most of them from day one.

If Lance were a number one option on a bad team, yes hypothetically he would score a lot more...but then one of his greatest attributes (his efficiency) goes out the window, thus he becomes what these guys already are...an inefficient player who puts up decent to good numbers on a bad team.

If you look at each player that you named individually, Lance is not better than them IMO. He may be more versatile, better at certain things, but I don't believe he's a better player.

The pacers keep a very tight reign on Lance because they don't trust him to not get out of control. I read somewhere where West was supposed to keep him in check. Whether Lance could be the #1 option I don't know but right now it isn't clear that he can't. How the pacers go about keeping him is going to be interesting and if they do give him a bolus of money then what or who can keep him from going off the deep end? Will his immaturity impact his career and upside?

Re: Watch out, Lance Stephenson’s putting it all together (NYPost)

I don't think Lance is on that level where you sign him and he is an automatic draw at the ticket office...yet.

He's not drawing a crowd at this point, so I agree. He is just breaking out and we don't know if this continues. Nobody knows.

But one thing is clear. Lance does A LOT more than score the basketball. As a 23 year old SG, he is averaging more rebounds than the 6'9" Danny Granger ever had even in his best year. Lance is averaging double the assists that Danny had in his best years. I say all this not to rip on Danny. Danny is a very good player...not just a great shooter. But I say this to emphasize that if Lance keeps this up his name across the league is going to rise quite a bit and he will be a draw at the gates. People don't think of him as a franchise player but that's exactly what he is if he keeps up this level of production. Moreover, there's no reason to think it will not continue if not get even better.